Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/329

 FORLI burg, Feb. 22, 1749, died in Gottingen, March 17, 1818. He was more distinguished as a writer upon musical subjects than as a com- poser. His musical works were numerous, and chiefly valuable in that they have preserved many excellent compositions of the older mas- ters, carefully edited and enriched with added vocal and orchestral parts. At the age of 20 he devoted himself to an exhaustive study of the history of music in various nations and from the earliest times, visiting for that pur- pose the great libraries of Leipsic, Dresden, Berlin, Halle, and Prague, and collecting many works. The results of these studies were giv- en to the world from time to time in a se- ries of volumes treating of the theory of music, the general history of music, the music of the Hebrews and Egyptians, a life of Johann Se- bastian Bach with a critical notice of his works, &c. Forkel left a great mass of valu- able material. He was for nearly 40 years di- rector of music at the university of Gottingen. FORLI. I. A province of Italy, formerly part of the Papal States, bordering on the Adriatic, the republic of San Marino, and the provinces of Pesaro ed Urbino, Florence, and Ravenna ; area, 716 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 233,969. It comprises the three districts of Cesena, Forli, and Rimini. On the coast and for some dis- tance inland the surface is low and level, but the "W. part is traversed by branches of the Apennines. The principal productions are wine, grain, hemp, flax, madder, saffron, anise, bees, and silk. No mineral of much value is found except sulphur, which is abundant. Earthquakes happen frequently. The interior suffers much from drought, while the inhabi- tants of the N. E. part are perhaps equally afflicted by unwholesome marshes, which oc- cupy a large proportion of the land, especially near the coast. Manufactures have made more progress than in any other part of the former Papal States. II. A city (anc. Forum Limi), capital of the province, on the ancient ^Emil- ian way, and on the railway between Bologna and Rimini, 38 m. S. E. of the former, and 30 m. N. W. of the latter ; pop. of the commune in 1871, 38,480 ; of the city proper, about 18,000. It is a handsome town, surrounded by walls, and situated in a fertile plain at the foot of the Apennines, between the rivers Ronco and Montone. It is the seat of a bishop and of the prefect. It has a gymnasium and other schools, and a public library. Its cathedral contains the tomb of Torricelli. Of the nine other churches, the most interesting is that of San Girolamo, where rests the body of King Manfred. The town hall is remarkable for its council chamber, decorated with frescoes by Raphael. There are several handsome palaces, one of which, the Palazzo Guersini, is built af- ter designs by Michel Angelo. The gallery of paintings contains many fine works. The manufactures are silk ribbons, silk twist, oil cloth, woollen goods, wax, nitre, and refined sulphur. The city is said to have been found- FORMIC ACID 321 ed in 207 B. C. by the consul M. Livius Salina- tor, and to have been named in his honor. It constituted a republic at one period in the middle ages, changed masters frequently du- ring the wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, was added to the Papal States by Pope Julius II., taken by the French and made the capital of the department of the Rubicon in 1797, re- stored to the Roman see in 1814, and merged in the kingdom of Italy in 1860. FORLI, Melozzo da, an Italian painter, born at Forli in 1438, died about 1492. He was the first who Applied the art of foreshortening to the painting of vaulted ceilings. About 1472 he painted the " Ascension " in the great chapel of the Santi Apostoli at Rome for Cardinal Riario. In 1711, when the chapel was being rebuilt, this painting was cut out of the ceil- ing and placed in the Quirinal palace, where it still remains. FORMES, Karl, a German vocalist, born at Mulheim on the Rhine, Aug. 7, 1818. He re- ceived instructions from Oehrlein, a bass sing- er at Cologne, and Bassadone in Vienna, and made his first appearance in opera at Cologne, Jan. 6, 1842, as Sarastro in Mozart's "Magic Flute." In 1843 he was made a member of the court opera at Mannheim, and in 1844 he became primo basso of the imperial opera at Vienna. He took part in 1848 in the revo- lutionary movements in that city, and subse- quently retired to Hamburg, and thence went to England, where in 1849 he appeared as a mem- ber of the German opera company at Drury Lane, and subsequently at the royal Italian opera, Covent Garden. In 1857 he came to the United States, making his first appearance in December of that year at the academy of music in Robert le Liable. Since that time he has made this country his home, with the ex- ception of a brief residence in Europe. His v.oice was remarkable when in its prime for its depth, sweetness, and beauty of tone ; and he was scarcely less distinguished as an actor than as a singer, possessing talent both as a tragedian and comedian in an eminent degree. In such roles as Marcel in the Huguenots, Ber- tram in Robert le Diable, and Fal staff in Nico- lai's " Merry Wives of Windsor," he was for a long time without a rival. He added also great- ly to his reputation both in this country and in England by his admirable singing in Han- del's "Messiah" and Mendelssohn's "Elijah." FORMIC ACID (Lat. formica, an ant), a chem- ical product so named from its being found in the bodies of ants. It is artificially prepared by dissolving sugar, starch, or tartaric acid in water, adding sulphuric acid, and distilling the mixture on peroxide of manganese. Car- bonic acid gas escapes, and formic acid mixed with water distils over. It is colorless and transparent, strongly acid, of specific gravity 1-1168; its composition is represented by the formula CH 2 O 2. Formic acid occurs in hu- man blood, urine, spleen, flesh juice, and per- spiration. In Watts's " Dictionary of Chemis-